If you think that the biggest selling game of the year is Call of Duty or some other huge franchise then you are likely not taking into account digital sales across all platforms. As this MCV report points out, the biggest games of the year are likely Angry Birds or Minecraft related. According to research firm Kantar Worldpanel, the two week period that ends on January 1, 2013 will account for almost seven percent of all games downloaded across mobile, tablet, console and PC platforms this year.

That means that the games that will be getting the biggest bumps will likely not be AAA titles. Publishers and digital distribution channels that focus on online digital distribution sales agree.

"Christmas Day is huge," said Ed Rumley, the COO of EA’s mobile publishing business Chillingo. "But that’s not surprising when you consider the number of people getting Kindle Fires and iPad Minis. There is all this incredible hardware on the market now at very affordable prices. In fact, January is our biggest month. Because that is the period when the iTunes gift cards are getting converted into spend."

"We anticipate the Christmas to New Year period will account for over 60 percent of our December revenue," Green Man Gaming boss Paul Sulyok added.

Digital music and movies also tend to see a surge in activity over the holiday months.

"With the Christmas holidays, we do see an increase in Xbox Live activity but it’s not just games," Xbox Live UK product manager Pav Bhardwaj tells MCV. "Entertainment consumption on Live has increased 140 per cent year-on-year globally. With the number of apps growing, and a host of DLC due this month including Halo 4, Skyrim and Nike+, there will be something for everyone on Xbox this holiday."

less thought goes into the cheaper model, and its why the "micro transaction" style has taken over MMO's and the like too. people are just far more likely to dump money when it seems like a small amount, but don't realize that over time they're spending thrice as much.